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Jarring events, be they global crises such as COVID-19 or technological events such as the Cambridge Analytica data incident, have bullwhip effects on billions of people's daily lives. Such “shocks” vary in their characteristics. While some shocks cause, for example, widespread adoption of information systems (IS) as diverse as Netflix and Teams, others lead users to stop using IS, such as Facebook. To offer insights into the multifaceted ways shocks influence user behavior, this study aims to assess the status quo of shock-related literature in the IS discipline and develop a taxonomy that paves the path for future IS research on shocks.

This study conducted a literature review (N = 70) to assess the status quo of shock-related research in the IS discipline. Through a qualitative study based on users who experienced shocks (N = 39), it confirmed the findings of previous literature in an illustrative IS research context. Integrating the findings of the literature review and qualitative study, this study informs a taxonomy of shocks impacting IS use.

This study identifies different ways that shocks influence user behavior. The taxonomy reveals that IS research could profit from considering environmental, private and work shocks and shedding light on positive shocks. IS research could also benefit from examining the urgency of shocks, as there are indications that this influences how and when individuals react to a specific shock.

Findings complement previous rational explanations for user behavior by showing technology use can be influenced by shocks. This study offers a foundation for forward-looking research that connects jarring events to patterns of technology use.

This paper investigates the dynamics between state affect and trusting cognitive beliefs on post-adoptive information technology (IT) use behaviors in the form of intention to explore and deep structure usage. That state affect can influence behaviors is recognized in practice. In fact, some studies examine the impact of affective constructs, but the way state affect impacts how individuals use IT remains largely unexplored. The authors theorize that state affect, in the form of positive and negative affect, will influence trusting cognitive beliefs regarding an IT artifact (in terms of perceived helpfulness, capability and reliability) and, more importantly, directly influence intention to explore and deep structure usage.

The authors test the model using a sample of 357 IT users. Survey items were derived from established measures, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Results of this study suggest that positive affect and negative affect impact trusting cognitive beliefs. Trusting cognitive beliefs positively impact intention to explore with an IT and deep structure usage of an IT. Even in the presence of trusting beliefs, though, positive affect directly impacts intention to explore. Positive affect and negative affect both also have various indirect, mediated effects on intention to explore and deep structure usage.

In order to maximize value from workplace IT, the results suggest managers foster an authentic, positive work environment in order to harness or redirect employees' emotional energies.

The ongoing shift to telework has brought about tremendous opportunities for employees to reimagine their use of technology. Opportunities abound for both discovering new technologies and new uses of existing technologies. However, opportunity alone is not enough to turn ideas into action. This opinion paper aims to identify grace, place and space as key concepts that can help managers navigate challenges and opportunities for technological innovation posed by telework.

The authors provide a concise review of related research and events that inform the selection of conditions necessary to foster employee technological innovation.

The authors identify three primary conditions necessary to foster employee technological innovation – grace, place and space. “Grace” refers to employee autonomy, “place” refers to networking and “space” refers to a reduction of overload. While telework may create opportunities for innovation, it also presents difficulties. Therefore, for each condition, the authors discuss inherent tensions and advise managers regarding how they can resolve those tensions and bring about innovation with a decentralized workforce.

The authors situate the discussion on facilitating conditions that foster employee technological innovation in today's current environment, one in which a rapid expansion of telework among employees is creating difficulties for managers. This paper addresses the “new normal” that managers will face for the foreseeable future.

Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) is a promising, powerful method that is increasingly used for IS research. However, the Information Systems (IS) discipline still lacks a shared understanding of how to conduct and report QCA. This paper introduces the fundamental concepts of QCA, summarizes the status quo, and derives recommendations for future research.

A descriptive literature review in major IS outlets summarizes how and why QCA has been used in the IS discipline, critically evaluates the status quo, and derives recommendations for future QCA studies.

The literature review reveals 32 empirical research articles in major IS journals that have used the QCA method. Articles applied QCA to a broad range of research topics at the individual and organizational levels, mainly as a standalone analysis for theory development, elaboration and testing. The authors also provide evidence that most published IS research articles do not take full advantage of the potential QCA, such as analyzing necessary causal conditions or testing the robustness of QCA results. The authors provide seven actionable recommendations for future IS research using QCA.

The literature review assesses the status quo of QCA’s application in the IS discipline and provides specific recommendations on how IS researchers can leverage the full potential of QCA.

Political skill has emerged as a concept of interest within the information systems literature to explain individual performance outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to adapt political skill to technology-mediated contexts. Specifically, the authors seek to understand political skill's role in shaping microtask workers' opportunity recognition when utilizing online communities in microtask work environments.

The authors tested their research model using a survey of 348 Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers who participate in microtask-related online communities. MTurk is a large, popular microtasking platform used by thousands of microtask workers daily, with several online communities supporting microtask workers.

Technology-based political skill plays a critical role in shaping the resources microtasking workers rely upon from online communities, including opportunity recognition and knowledge sharing. The ability to develop opportunity recognition positively impacts a microtask worker's ability to leverage online communities for microtask worker performance. Tenure in the community acts as a moderator within the model.

The present study makes several contributions. First, the authors adapt political skill to an online community to account for how microtask workers understand a community's socio-technical environment. Second, the authors demonstrate the antecedent role of political skill for opportunity recognition and knowledge sharing. Third, the authors provide empirical validation of the link between online communities and microtask worker performance.

The paper aims to discuss the expectations and needs of Generation Y students for higher education specifically targeting issues relating to libraries and library management.

The paper provides a brief overview of Generation Y personality traits and characteristics. This is followed by a discussion of organizational culture, explaining how to effectively adapt to meet the expectations of the Generation Y students. Two academic libraries' programs designed to meet the needs of the new learners are discussed.

The paper recognizes the need to address the challenges of the new learners from all levels of library management and provides strategies and programs to enable positive change within the library culture.

The paper highlights generational differences of current higher educational students and library staff and provides practical solutions to enable positive change within library organizational culture.